This love affair begins about a year ago. While at work one morning on my 9,000 ton 16,000 horsepower freight train, our dynamic brakes in full braking effort descending a ten mile one percent grade into Syracuse, NY. Its a glorious morning peering out my conductors window and what do I spy, an Old Town Pack canoe atop a small shed tucked into the backyard of a secluded home in Onatavia, NY. I’m a huge fan of Old Town canoes, especially the “Pack”. Its a light weight solo canoe with great versatility and I see an opportunity.

Over the course of about a year, I’d routinely pass by this canoe wondering what stories it had to tell. Had it seen adventures in the Adirondack’s, New England or the Boundary Waters? Maybe it lived a quiet life paddling the many small lakes of Central New York. Recently one morning we happened to have a relatively small train. And what I mean by small is 5,500 tons. I decided we needed to stop in order for me to chat with the owner. In conversation I had asked him where he had paddled this canoe and I was correct. It had made many adventures to the Adirondack’s and he was thinking of selling it before moving to Colorado. We entered into brief negotiations and came to an acceptable agreement on price and the “Pack” was mine.

Glancing over the reviews on http://www.paddling.net I discovered many owners of this canoe had similar complaints, “The Seat was to high” and needed to be lowered. I’ll be honest, as I was uncomfortable when I first paddled it. A trip to http://www.eurekacampingctr.com in Binghamton, NY I was able to purchase a kit to lower the seat by four inches and what a difference it has made, not just in comfort but it paddling this boat.

We have been fortunate lately with some amazing weather here in Central New York. Over the last two weeks since obtaining the canoe I have had several opportunities to paddle on the Whitney Point Reservoir in the small Hamlet of Upper Lisle, NY. I cannot stress enough how much I enjoy this boat. So as I save my pennies, next spring I will be purchasing an Old Town “Penobscott” as my sons and I are planning a canoe camping trip in the White Mountains of New Hampshire paddling a portion of the 740 mile Northern Forest Canoe Trail.